Memory and learning
Memory and learning
Research studies have shown that for children and adults with Down syndrome, working
memory skills are more delayed than would be expected in relation to their general
cognitive abilities or mental age.
Working memory is the immediate memory system
used in everyday activities such as listening to another speaker, reading, doing
mental arithmetic, recalling a shopping list or a telephone number. It is important
in supporting learning in the classroom as well as most everyday mental activities.
The working memory system can be considered in terms of 3 main components, a visual
short term memory store for holding visual information, a verbal short term memory
store for holding spoken information and an information processing component called
a central executive.
The capacity of each of these three components can be measured
and typically their capacities increase with age during childhood. There is a link
between changes in verbal short-term memory capacity and speaking rate in typically
developing children.
There is evidence to suggest that the verbal working memory system plays an important
role in learning to talk, with possible influences on the ability to discriminate
speech sounds and to store the sound patterns of words. This could affect word learning
and speech clarity. Working memory is also important in learning to read.
Further reading and resources
Research
Can training improve working memory?
The Trust's research in the area of memory has focused on working memory, starting
with a study in 1990 designed to find out if working memory skills could be improved
by training[1,2].
The results of this work were mixed. It was possible to
improve memory performance with training and visual short term memory improved more
than verbal short term memory. For most children the gains were not sustained over
time[3]. However, for a small group of the children, who were in inclusive education
classrooms, the training gains were sustained and built on over a four year period[4].
This could be for a number of reasons including the fact that their Learning
Support Assistants did the initial training with them, they were receiving daily
literacy instruction and in better language environments as the rest of the study
children were in special education classrooms.
In a second training study, a computer programme designed to improve memory skills
showed promising results for school age children[5].
Impact
The Trust's work on working memory and the methods used in the training
have been shared through the training and publications of the Trust. The
Trust's first research in the area stimulated further research in other
Universities. Trust staff have drawn on the information on the relative
weakness of verbal short-term memory in designing adapted methods for
teaching and learning for children with Down syndrome with positive
long-term outcomes.
Education
The Trust has published 1 book, 7 papers in refereed journals, 6 articles
in other publications and presented 8 papers peer-reviewed national and
international conferences.
References
- Broadley, B (1994) Teaching short-term memory
skills to children with Down syndrome. PhD Thesis. University of Portsmouth.
- Broadley, I., MacDonald, J., & Buckley, S. J. (1994). Are children with Down's
syndrome able to maintain skills learned from a short-term memory training programme?
Down's Syndrome: Research and Practice. 2. 116-122.
- Laws, G. MacDonald, J., Buckley, S.J. & Broadley, I. (1995) Long-term maintenance
of memory skills taught to children with Down's syndrome. Down's Syndrome Research
and Practice 3 (3) 103-109.
- Laws, G., Buckley, S.J., Bird, G., MacDonald, J. & Broadley, I. (1995). The
influence of reading instruction on language and memory development in children
with Down's syndrome. Down's Syndrome: Research and Practice. 3. (2) 59-64.
- Soloman, N. (2000). The Effectiveness
of a Computer Aided Memory Training Programme in Children with Down Syndrome.
Undergraduate
project. Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth.
A full list of publications
related to work in this area is available.